Exercise ZZ TOP 94-6

Welcome to this episode of Lessons from the Cockpit!

There is one training event during my Air Force career I can truly look back at and say it was transformational. And it started with a 3M sticky note on my desk!

Fearing I wasn't up to this task, my Commander let me and my counterpart use our imagination and initiative to create one of the most complex and dynamic training exercises in 18th Shogun Wing history, the flying wing based in Okinawa Japan.

This exercise trained the largest combined Air Force Wing of seven flying squadrons and three other flying units on how to plan and operate in any conflict across the Far East region. We did it with a Navy Carrier Battlegroup as our simulated adversary over an imaginary battlefield.

The education and expertise I gained from this exercise were invaluable while deployed to the Middle East years later, planning and executing the air campaigns over Afghanistan and Iraq from 2002 through 2003.

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